Projections in Italy point to hung Parliament
ROME — Election projections in Italy early Monday showed a center-right coalition that includes an anti-migrant party edging past the populist 5-Star Movement, but no single bloc or party with the support to win a majority in Parliament.
Votes were slowly trickling in after Italians braved long lines and confusing ballots to vote Sunday in one of the most uncertain elections in years — one that could determine if the country succumbs to the populist, euroskeptic and far-right sentiment that has swept through Europe.
Preliminary results showed Italian populists of all leanings taking a hammer to their country’s old political order, crushing traditional centrist parties
in favor of a kaleidoscope of alternatives on the left and right, upending their former system. Italy’s complicated electoral system means that initial results could still shift slightly, but politicians of all stripes were treating the first projections as an earthquake.
The mood at the anti-immigrant League headquarters in Milan was euphoric early Monday. Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party and Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigrant League are the two biggest partners in that coalition.
If confirmed by official results, the outcome could set the stage for weeks of political haggling to forge a new government in the eurozone’s third-largest economy at a time when the European Union is trying to embark on major economic and political reforms.
An RAI State TV projection from Sunday’s election showed the center-right bloc in front with 35.5 percent and the center-left, which includes the Democratic Party leading the current government, lagging at 23 percent.
The anti-establishment 5Star Movement had 32.5 percent.
Another projection that looked only at how parties fared had the 5-Star Movement snagging 31.8 percent of the vote, but far from the threshold it needed to form a government.
Mr. Salvini’s anti-immigrant, euroskeptic League had 17.7 percent of the vote and its main center-right partner, Mr. Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, came in at 13.3 percent. The Democratic Party had just under 20 percent; Agricultural Minister Maurizio Martina characterized the result as negative.
The shattering of the political landscape — an uncertainty unique even to a nation known for cycling through leaders at a rapid clip — ruled out most plausible alliances among parties, even as voters did not offer a clear direction for the future as they struggle with a stagnating economy and an influx of migrants.
The League’s strong showing within the coalition was “a clear signal to Europe, which has mistreated Italians,” a party official told reporters.
How the seats ultimately are sorted out could determine if Italy is swept up in the euroskeptic and farright sentiment that has emerged in much of Europe. Formerly fringe ideas, such as deporting 600,000 migrants who have come to Italy without proper papers in recent years, have entered the mainstream.
The campaigning in Italy was marked by neo-fascist rhetoric and anti-migrant violence that culminated in a shooting spree last month that targeted African migrants and injured six.